Welcome to the RedRoots Blog

Welcome to the first entry into my little experiment. I'm trying this new thing called "blogging" just a few of us pioneers doing it so far but no doubt it'll catch on like wildfire soon enough. Just like everything else I've "pioneered"...Hypercolor T-shirts, cordless telephones, unleaded gasoline...the sky's the limit. There's just no telling where this "interweb" thing will take us. Who knows maybe one day we'll be able to create a vast virtual network of friends that we never actually meet or see but instead interact with by trading inspirational quotes and quips and embarrassing pictures...the future is an open book...a book of faces...like a face..book...nah, that's crazy talk.

All jokes aside, this blog is about one of my (and my wife's) favorites things. Exploring the Redland and enjoying the bounty it offers. What is the Redland? It's one of the most amazing little corners of farmland in South Florida...but that's a separate blog post (the next one). We'll chronicle the seasonal bounty of the area and highlight some cool things along the way. Hopefully you find it as interesting as we do, it's all about the local goodness. 

My wife has been exploring the Redland since she moved to Miami as a kid. Visiting the famous Knauss Berry Farm to eat the delicious homemade cinnamon buns and shakes with her family. Naturally it was one of the things she introduced me to when I moved down here in '05 (just in time for Katrina & Wilma, welcome back to hurricane country sucka!). Since then we've been exploring the side roads and country lanes of this incredible area wondering when we would get some acres, renovate an old house, raise some barefoot hippie kids and tend the land. That part hasn't happened yet but...baby steps.

We baby stepped our way to the funky little town of Cutler Bay, closer to the Redland than Kendall and worlds away (You actually talk to your neighbors here! What a concept!). This is now our base camp and staging point for our Southerly exploration and there's no place like home.  

In this world that we are living in now, with the crappy economy, rampant corporate corruption and soul crushing homogeneity of the things we eat its comforting to visit a place like the Redland. It gives us a chance to connect with the food we eat and the people that grow it. We'll explore the options available to us as consumers, we'll eat with the seasons and try to source our food as close to home as possible.

My goal is to get most of what is on my plate from less that 150 miles away. Now this isn't possible for everything and lord knows I'll need to make an exception for my California wines and other goodies but if you can make small changes like buying Florida oranges instead of ones shipped in from South Africa (this was the case at Publix last week), then you are doing something and that's the best you can do. You are supporting local agriculture, cutting down on pollution and fuel consumption and getting a fresher product on your table. Start small, start local, read labels and make a difference for you and your family. It's a wonderful start to something that will improve the way we all eat and live.

So join us on our forays into farm country, It's amazing what you find in your backyard.

R.